A South African clown has won a lawsuit against FHM magazine after it used a
photograph of him to illustrate an article describing those in his
profession as "drug-addicted transvestites".

Norman Pudney, a Cape Town-based, full-time children's performer and circus artist known as Puddles the Clown, launched his defamation lawsuit in 2007 against the editor and publisher of the South African version of the popular men's' magazine.

The case concerned an article entitled "FHM calls Bull----" which focused on a variety of circumstances and people the writer detested.

Among them were airline fares, car parking attendants and clowns who, it said, often resembled "grown men with long-term tik (crystal meth) habits, dressed like transvestites from hell".

Mr Pudney, who won £3,900 in the lawsuit, said he could not take the insult lying down. "Being a clown of impeccable integrity and a children's entertainer for 29 years, I had to do something about the story," he told The Cape Times.

"My character is my livelihood. They wanted to print a retraction, but it was too late, the damage was done."